Here’s what we learned from the Bruins 4-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center that left them with a still-very-strong 3-1-0 record on their season-opening four-game road trip to the West Coast.
1) Even though both calls were technically correct, we saw everything that is wrong with video replay in sports in the final 40 minutes of an otherwise entertaining game between the Bruins and Avalanche. The Bruins scored four goals in the loss, but only ended up with two on the scoreboard after a pair of Avs coach’s challenges wiped them away.
The first was perhaps a little easier to stomach as it happened early in the second period when Karson Kuhlman snapped a shot through a David Krejci screen to make it a 3-1 lead for the Bruins. It was a big, though obviously brief, momentum changer for the Black and Gold, as it gave Boston a two-goal lead and wiped away the bad taste of a poor final couple of minutes to the first period that got Colorado on the board.
Krejci had both stick and skate contact with Avs goalie Phillip Grubauer just prior to the goal being scored, so the officials were right to overturn the play called a goal on the ice. Eventually, the Avs tied it up in the second period, and that led to the more controversial call in the third. Jake DeBrusk scored on a beautiful powerplay strike after a no-look, backhanded dish across the goal mouth from David Pastrnak, and that goal gave the Bruins an important 3-2 lead in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The Avs ended up challenging that goal as well that the Bruins were offside entering the zone, though that happened well before the goal was eventually scored. It had no real bearing on the scoring play. This is where video review has a real issue in hockey. For a league that wants more scoring, more excitement and more offense, it’s borderline insane that an off-side entry can cancel out a perfectly good goal that takes place 20, 30 or even 40 seconds after the initial infraction.
The NHL really needs to begin instituting some kind of statute of limitations on the amount of time prior to a goal that something can be legitimately challenged for video review. As it was the Bruins had two good goals taken off the board by coach’s challenges that were upheld by the letter of the league’s law, but also had everybody talking about the NHL’s video review system afterward. That should not be what the NHL is looking for, at all. Predictably the rest, as we know, is history with the tiring Bruins essentially packing it in after the second goal was called back, and the Avs scoring a pair of third-period goals that led them to the 4-2 win.
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2) Zdeno Chara is still capable of being that No. 1 guy on occasion. Chara was second among the B’s defensemen with 20:55 of ice time, scored his first goal of the season on a point shot that was redirected on its way to the net and stayed out of the minus category in a game where the Bruins allowed four goals. He was highly active with his three shot attempts, two hits and four blocked shots to go along with his goal, and showed that he’s able to respond with more responsibility if it’s meted out accordingly during the NHL schedule.
Asking him to shoulder that kind of workload every night at 42 years old would be asking for trouble, but the Bruins “load management” usage of their captain to this point in the season has been very, very good. If they keep winning it’s something they may be able to keep up all season.
3) Danton Heinen really needs to step up and do something in the same game if he makes a key mistake as he did on Thursday night. The Bruins winger, no longer a rookie or one of the more inexperienced players on the team, played a puck right in front of the Bruins bench in the final two minutes of the first period as his teammates were changing out. The Bruins were cruising by a 2-0 score and readying to head into the first intermission having dominated the first period. But Heinen’s ill-timed decision led to an obvious too many men on the ice penalty, and the Avs quickly scored a powerplay goal to halve Boston’s lead and steal away all of their first-period momentum.
Certainly there was plenty that happened afterward with the two Bruins goals taken off the board by video review, but Heinen had 40 minutes to redeem himself after a key mistake in the first period that led to a goal. Instead, he finished with one measly shot on net in 12:59 of ice time and not much else that he brought to the table. Heinen did well with a powerplay goal on opening night in Dallas, and perhaps that might have called off the dogs for a while. But with two healthy scratch forwards now on the sidelines with Joakim Nordstrom now healthy again, Heinen needs to do much better than two shots on net and one boneheaded penalty to show for his final three games on the road trip. Otherwise, he’s going to be seeing more healthy scratches with such a competitive situation upfront right now.
Plus
*David Pastrnak was a beast in the final game of the trip with a goal, two points, five shots on net and 10 shot attempts in 21:59 of ice time that also included a slick PP assist that got wiped out during the third-period coach’s challenge.
*Jake DeBrusk didn’t have anything that counted, but he figured prominently in both overturned Bruins goals with the setup to Karson Kuhlman on the first one, and a PP strike in the third period that would have been the game-winner otherwise. DeBrusk was understandably pissed when asked about it by reporters postgame: “Of course [it's frustrating] any time that you get production finally and it gets taken away from you twice. I don’t think it’s going to snowball, but it’s definitely pissing me off for sure.”
*Gabriel Landeskog finished with a goal and two points along with five shots on net in his 19 plus minutes of ice time, and was the most impactful of Colorado’s top line forwards in the win.
Minus
*Danton Heinen played a puck in front of the Bruins bench that led to a too many men on the ice penalty, and otherwise didn’t do much of anything with just one shot on net in the loss. Heinen finished the road trip with zero points and just two shots on net in the final three games after scoring opening night.
*Just one shot on net in 14:37 of ice time for Charlie Coyle, who needs to be more consistent if he’s going to get advantageous third line match-ups when the top line is humming as they were on Thursday. For all the talk about Coyle being such a dominant player in camp, he now has one assist in the first four games of the season.
*Two goals overturned by coach’s challenge against the same team in the same game? Yikes. Not a good look NHL.
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